Of instructions and descriptions
27th September 2020
The nights are drawing in: yes, I know, I can always state the b**** obvious. This summer of 2020 - if you can deign to consider it such - is drawing to an end. At least self-isolating is more tolerable when the weather outside isn't welcoming.
We had booked a 17tonner for the spoils from this auction I told you about last week, and it rolled up very late Monday afternoon, fortuitous as it meant that Andrew was around to aid unloading, though we did it as quickly as possible in order that both the driver and ourselves could get home and get our teas. Having sent the driver out with a list of the lots Andrew had won (complete with pictures: you can't assume anything) and instructions that these were the things to collect ,we dumped the pallets, crates and stillages everywhere and anywhere we could in order to get him away, the train returned to its normal place, and the shed secured. We were surprised to find, on top of a lot of open, 4 poster stillages (which Andrew plans to convert to engine carriers) a 2tonne electronic weighing scale. 'Did we win that?' I asked Andrew at the time. 'No' he confirmed, and the driver shrugged and told us they'd loaded him and he assumed that they knew what was due to come to us. So much for following instructions. After the lorry had left - just after in fact - Andrew suddenly said ' Where's the workbench?' and shortly later still 'And where are the other two air cleaners?'.
Back home, he banged out an e-mail to the auctioneers, not mentioning the weighing scales (kept up his sleeve in case they were awkward) but protesting that 2 lots were missing. By lunchtime on Tuesday the auctioneers came back to him. It transpired that someone there had just been fired for gross misconduct. Not only had he been swapping or defacing tags on lots, they'd realised that he was pilfering bits from some lots and eventually when challenged admitted he had decided he was going to have our workbench so had sent the next lot number instead.. Humble apologies but could they have their weighing scales back, please? Our two missing lots were still there to be collected. So most of my Wednesday was committed to a 200 mile jaunt. The base of the weighing scales just fitted between the wheel arches of the van, and the auctioneers confirmed that the workbench was 6ft 1 long. The back of the van at floor level is about 6ft 6, but the bulkhead behind the driving seats slopes backwards, so the available length becomes a bit less as you go up. I wasn't about to fret too much: if I had to drive back with the doors tied together with a strap I would do so: only the van's computer would become argumentative every time I set off and it attempted to lock them.
When I got there they couldn't do enough: out came the weighing scales, and in went the workbench, which fitted with about an inch at each end. But the space it took up meant that the remaining lot of two ginormous air cleaners wouldn't fit , so while I stood and supervised they were unpacked from their large cardboard boxes and the parts (they came with pre-cleaner 'mushroom', hoses, clips, and depression gauge, etc ) all slid in, under or over the bench. I would have been well advised to have thrown a strap over the cleaners themselves as they slid to and fro on every sharp bend on the way back, but I just kept going, taking a scenic route to avoid the traffic delays I had encountered on the journey over. This workbench, incidentally, was found to contain a selection of Cat manuals for 3306 and 3406 engines, two things we think are manhole cover handles and a bottle of barbecue lighting fluid - they weren't in the lot description. And what of the rest of this treasure trove? Well, according to these 'approximate' lot descriptions, we had vast quantities of parts for Paxman RPH series engines. And we certainly have a few - if you want any liners, for example, we can help - but some of their 'RPH' bits we have since identified as Paxman YJX, others for an as yet unidentied Perkins engine and a lot of injectors turned out to be for Rolls' CV engines. We have a CV12 destined for one or other of the class 14s, but there are enough injectors here to keep it going until the oil runs out
And then there was that '855' radiator. It looked rather big when we unloaded it. I thought that maybe stood on its frame without an engine behind or a casing surrounding, it might just seem that way, but a tape measure a day later revealed it wasn't an optical illusion. In surface area it was 50% larger and once the thickness of the core is added, it becomes double the volume. If it is for an 855 (and the ports and diameters seem to be right) it is for one on steroids or perhaps destined for a severe tropical climate. Or maybe in fact it was intended for the next engine up - the 19 litre K series rather than the 14 litre N's. Either way it will not be going into Adolf (as I forcast last week) but is reserved for some other project in the future.
There is a widely-held view around that 'men' (I use the term in parenthesis as I may be heading into dangerous waters) will seldom read instructions, unlike 'women' who insist they do. Now I am not going to make any pronouncement for or against this assertion but I will submit for your consideration, one of the bags from within our haul as we unpacked it. Exhibit A, is the clear warning added in black felt marker pen to this bag of - whatever it was.
And behold, clearly someone didn't read it or take heed.
This, I hasten to add, was NOT us: we found the bag in this condition as we delved down into the depths of a guano-encrusted carton the size of a deep-freeze. Another piece of amusement this week - workmen had dug up part of Station Road a short way east of us at Darley Dale station. Consequently they had half the carriageway coned off and temporary lights either side. But the side facing east-bound traffic (I assume there is a statute somewhere that decrees how far away the lights must be from a place of work) was only 20 yards or so from the level crossing, so they installed a second traffic light, operating in concert with the first, and placed this just before the crossing, with a big yellow sign saying 'Keep Crossing Clear'.
The entrance to the yard and our shed was between these two lights, making our arrivals and departures the more entertaining as we dodged between them, probably attracting the 'what do they think they're doing?' from impatient motorists. Not to mention, of course the confusion when we shepherd in and out a 17ton lorry between cycles (lights, not the 2-wheeled types). So did the contractors think that the railway had regular trains and that it was an automated half barrier that would come crashing down on unsuspecting car rooves? Did they have to comply because the law says so even though a glance at the Peak Rail website says that all services are suspended because of Covid? I imagine one of you dear readers will know the regulations and enlighten me, just as one kindly did this week pointing out that under the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 I cannot charge extra for buying The Railway to Merhead and paying by card. Swizz. It doesn't stop the DVLA though: thinks - must renew the tax on Steph's car this week...
And so at long last we get to the weekend, and once again it has been one of plodding on with commercial work for the most part. I had to throw together a bracket to hold an alternator on one loco, plus modify a bracket that holds a speedo sensor by a toothed wheel, wiring and plumbing bits to resolve, all tedious stuff and not much to write (home) about, or otherwise. In between welding assignments, Andrew was cataloguing the parts and trying to recover the floor space that had disappeared in our haste to unload. On Sunday Andrew was returning grandson to his mother's, but Jagger and Luke kept me company, as a result of which, among other things, the floor of the cement van has turned black, but still awaits the timber floor that is promised for it. (Until it is refloored the contents of the other two thirds of the van cannot be shifted anywhere to get the rest of the old floor out though... ).
So I cannot really say much more of interest, I shall leave it at that. I'll be back next week, Covid permitting. Actually I'm booked for a flu jab tomorrow: I feel more concerned at the possibility of catching Covid at the Doctors', but hey, why miss out on something that's free? The Butchers' is still shut but it seems as though we've avoided that bullet. So I should be here as we move into October. See ya then.
